The stars shone so brightly that Zhang Lie felt as though he were immersed in the Milky Way itself. The glowing moon slowly turned dim as the serpent wrapped around it, opening its mouth wide so that its sharp fangs were visible. As it hissed, an immense pressure descended on the room, causing the reinforced floor to creak.

All around Zhang Lie, the ground seemed to tremble. He was shocked by the strength of the attack: [Ninecarp Transformation] and [Eclipse] seemed to be growing more and more compatible with each other, and the combination skill formed from both techniques promised a devastating blow.

Furthermore, it seemed as though an improvement in one technique would also spark faster growth in the other.

Suddenly, he thought to himself, What if I were to let the serpent swallow up the moon completely? Just what could an attack of that magnitude achieve?

Zhang Lie tested out his hypothesis immediately, forcing the two techniques to combine more intimately than they ever had before. As more and more genetic energy emanated from his body, the serpent's fangs struck the moon.

A sudden roar caused a huge fluctuation of energy within Zhang Lie's training room. He had forcibly stopped the circulation of his genetic energy moments after combining the two skills, and his forehead was beaded with cold sweat from the exertion.

As he panted, the glowing moon and black serpent dissolved away. He glanced at the reinforced floor on which the moon had been shining and saw the small holes drilled through it: the domain of [Eclipse] had grown even stronger than before.

Not only that, his path forward was obvious. If he were able to combine the two skills fully, with the serpent swallowing the moon, just what devastation could he wreak?

"It's a pity that just using the combination attack once drains almost all my reserves, or I'd try it a few more times," Zhang Lie mumbled to himself. It was clear that the combination would strengthen his domain massively, increasing both the pressure and rate at which genetic energy drained from those caught in his domain.

This would surely be a trump card during the battle against the moonlit wyrm in the future.

He meditated beside the starstone to recuperate his genetic energy, then spent the entire day trying to combine the two techniques together more and more effectively.

Meanwhile, after Zhang Lie returned to the dimensional world, Lin Xiu also returned to the Blackwind Fort.

"From what you've said, it doesn't seem as though he fears the Li or Qin clans," Su Feng commented, after Lin Xiu reported about Zhang Lie's actions to him.

"Indeed. He seems to be very confident that he can handle whatever counterattack comes his way, and his confidence is well-founded," Lin Xiu replied.

Su Feng was very curious just how Zhang Lie had obtained the information that he had presented to the Blackwind Fort. He had no background to speak of, so how had he discovered these limit fragments? After all, this news had shocked the entire world.

Everyone outside of China—and even in the Milky Way at large—was searching for similar growth factors to activate a foundational breakthrough. All this implied that no one had ever come up with such a theory before; Zhang Lie had developed it from scratch and had even actualized it in practice.

How could he have done so without any background at all?

"Could it be that our background check wasn't thorough enough?" Su Feng muttered to himself. "Lin Xiu, what do you know of Zhang Lie's background?"

"His sister's legs are paralyzed, and both his parents have been missing for over a decade. His parents were second-realm hunters before they vanished," Lin Xiu replied. It hadn't been difficult to uncover this information.

Su Feng frowned. Could Zhang Lie have found out about these limit fragments through some chance opportunity, then?

"With your manpower, it shouldn't be too hard to learn more about this lad's parents, and maybe to find out where they are now. Do you still need me to protect him during the Void Cup?" Lin Xiu asked, knowing that the Li, Qin, and Wang clans wouldn't simply let matters rest.

"Just observe him from a distance. There's no need for you to step in unless Zhang Lie's life is in danger. Take the opportunity to check in on our insect friends' actions; it seems like they might be making a move." Su Feng instructed, his expression grave.

"What? Are they coming a second time?" Lin Xiu cried out.

"All I can deduce for now is that the Kez invasion of the capital was far from an accident."

"Got it." Lin Xiu rushed out of Su Feng's office.

Meanwhile, Su Feng returned to the footage from the Kez invasion that he had been studying. He had circled a few particularly notable pieces of footage in red, including Zhang Lie's fight.

Days later, within a training ground in the Blacksteel Inn, as genetic energy filled the field, a gigantic serpent soared into the air. As it wrapped around a glowing moon and began to devour it, the skies all around seemed to darken, replacing the midday sunlight with a starry sky.

Just as the serpent was about to devour the moon completely, a series of cracks rang out from the ground down below. As the genetic energy fuelling the illusion dissipated, the image of the serpent and the moon vanished.

Zhang Lie's back was drenched with sweat. Despite a few days' effort, he was ultimately unable to combine the two techniques completely, but his practice with [Eclipse] had significantly widened the range of its domain.

He kept feeling as though he were missing something crucial for the combination.

He sucked in a deep breath and expelled it. Once the moon was half-devoured, [Eclipse] would start flaring up, consuming large amounts of genetic energy and displaying a stronger effect.

Personally, Zhang Lie believed that having a sufficient quantity of genetic energy would allow him to combine the two techniques together in a relatively simple fashion, but acquiring so much genetic energy could well be a problem.

Well, I won't make much progress right now. The Void Cup's about to start, so I'd better check up on everyone's progress.

Zhang Lie stood up, had a quick shower, and then rushed toward the Desert of Silence. However, the moment he walked out of the Blacksteel settlement, he found Chu Feng, Chu Xun, and Yun Bing coming his way.

"Zhang Lie, where have you been? Why haven't we been able to find you? Don't be upset with my brother on account of what happened at your dojo's opening ceremony, please. It was all our grandfather's fault! He wouldn't listen to us, so you'd better not get mad at us!" Chu Xun shouted at him, her cheeks flushed in anger at her grandfather.

It had been quite a while since the opening ceremony, and Zhang Lie was surprised to have encountered them here.

"Sorry for the fuss, Zhang Lie." Chu Feng sighed, shushing his little sister.

"Don't worry, I'm used to her personality by now," Zhang Lie replied.

The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward: the Chu and Yun clans' attitude, regardless of whether Chu Feng and Yun Bing could be held responsible, had still somewhat soured relations between them.

"I have to do something urgently, so I'll see you all when I get back!" Zhang Lie rushed past Chu Feng and Yun Bing.

"Zhang Lie!" Just then, Yun Bing suddenly called him back.

"What's the matter?" Zhang Lie turned back, frowning. He had already made up his mind not to give the Yun and Chu clans any discount on the white-grub cores, and if Yun Bing and Chu Feng were to prod him further about this matter, he would naturally get upset.

"Be careful. The Void Cup's about to start, and hunters from the stronger settlements will be roaming around and snatching people's soulshards," Yun Bing continued. She had seen the unkind flash in Zhang Lie's eyes when he turned around, and she couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

"Is that so?" Zhang Lie frowned harder. He didn't have much recollection of the Void Cup, because by this point in his past life, he certainly didn't qualify as an applicant, so he hadn't paid it much attention.

Before the Cup began, quite a few hunters would try to hunt down superior prey in order to obtain a few more soulshards and gene fragments, and, in response, there were a number of hunters who hunted these hunters, robbing them of their hard-earned soulshards and points.

"Right, right! There have been reports of them hanging around the Desert of Silence!" Chu Xun added.

"What? The Desert of Silence?!" That was where Team Zenith was hunting superior-grade lifeforms!

"Yes, indeed. Quite a few hunters head to the Desert of Silence right before the Void Cup for last-minute training, and there are hunters who specifically prey on them," Yun Bing explained in greater detail.

"Thank you."

Zhang Lie rushed off toward the Desert of Silence.

"Zhang Lie's not... trying to hunt down those hunters, is he?" Chu Feng asked, after a momentary silence.

"I think it's possible that his teammates are in the Desert of Silence." Yun Bing narrowed her eyes. Given Zhang Lie's strength, he had no need to head to the Desert of Silence to try to pick off a few superior-grade lifeforms, but his team was different. "In that case, it's quite likely that his teammates might be in danger. Come on, we'd better follow him!"

Chu Feng and Yun Bing also began rushing in the direction in which Zhang Lie had gone.

The usually barren Desert of Silence was, at this time, sufficiently populated that quite a few teams could be seen hunting the lifeforms within.

"Heh, we've amassed over ten million points just from hunting down all these lone wolves already!" a thin, stick-like man exclaimed in joy, as he headed deeper into the desert with his team.

"We have Young Master Long to thank for all this," a massive hulk, who seemed like the team's leader, replied cheerfully. 

Everyone turned to the long-haired youth walking in the center of the team.